The
Cuba
Solidarity Campaign is
the British campaign for the defence of Cuba and its peoples' right
to self-determination and national sovereignty. It is part of a
world-wide movement aimed at forcing the USA to end its illegal
blockade of Cuba. This site is produced by the Manchester group
of the campaign.Links to CSC national page
and groups

There
is no similar case of such a sustained assault by one power on
another - in this case the greatest superpower against a poor, Third
World country - for 40 years of terror and economic warfare.Noam Chomsky, Rogue
States, (Pluto 2000)

Spotlight on US aggression against Cuba

Know your enemy: McCain promises
aggression and destabilisation against hope in Venezuela, Cuba and
America."We must also work together to counter
the propaganda of demagogues who threaten the security and prosperity
of the Americas. Hugo Chávez has overseen the dismantling of
Venezuela's democracy by undermining the parliament, the judiciary,
the media, free labor unions, and private enterprises. His regime is
acquiring advanced military equipment. And it is trying to build a
global anti-American axis. My administration will work to marginalize
such nefarious influences. It will also prepare immediately for
Cuba's transition to democracy by developing a plan with regional and
European partners for a post-Castro Cuba so as to be ready to spark
rapid change in that long-suffering country when the time comes. We
must build on the passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement
by ratifying pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and Peru
and move the process of completing a Free Trade Area of the Americas
forward." source

Embargoes,
Blacklists and Assassination Plots: Bush's New Cuba PlanBy former US diplomat Wayne
S. Smith Counterpunch 13 July 2006And
the secret appendix:"Everything
in the document reflects the will to undertake, sooner or later, the
annexation of the island of Cuba. Everything is written by the
imperial power and its lackeys in a tone that would delight
individuals like Orlando Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, Santiago
Alvarez and other killers, whose dreams of a Cuba subjected to the
empire are reflected in the very existence of the withheld appendix,
an augury of fresh aggression.".......moreGlobal
Exchange's Summary
Of 500 Page Report on the so called Commission
for A Free Cuba-
the Bush plan to destabilise Cuba and put in place a free market
dictatorship.

What is the impact of
the blockade?The
Bush Plan ...will take away
forever your morning goodbye kiss, the hug at the end of school,
as well as the glint in your eye.Thanks,
but we already live in a Free Cuba.

The
Bush plan for Cubaby
SHARMINI PERIES'President
Bush's recently unveiled plan to bring down the Fidel Castro
government in Cuba bears close resemblance to the one for Iraq and is
designed with the 2004 Presidential election in focus.'

13
July, 2006 200
MPs call on government to distance UK from US aggressiontowards
Cuba

In the same week that the Bush
administration has adopted a much trumpeted plan to force regime
change in Cuba, 200 MPs from all parties have now signed a Commons
motion calling on the UK and Europe to improve their relations with
the island. ...more(see
also the Cuban 5 / Miami 5)

The
United States bombs, tortures, kidnaps and make citizens disappear
all over the world, normalises the idea of preventative war and
does away with the presumption of innocence, legalises
extrajudicial executions and refuses t o sign 21 international
treaties (including that on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women and that on the Defence of the Rights of the Child)
and the next day formulates and forces the approval in Geneva of a
resolution with the aim of promoting the respect of human
rights in Cuba.Santiago
Alba

Cuba
isn't hated by the United States government because of any supposed
repression of its citizens; there are dozens of countries around the
world who would deserve the focus of such anger that the U.S.
reserves for Cuba, but most of them are U.S. allies. Cuba isn't even
hated by the United States because it's a tiny area of the world
where the capitalist system can't extract additional profits, because
the potential amounts involved wouldn't put a dent in the bottom line
of the U.S. economy. No, Cuba is hated by the United States, and has
been the object of attempts to overthrow its government by military
force or economic pressure for 46 years, because of the example it
sets for the people of the world. The example that a country, even a
small country just 90 miles from the United States, can actually
chart an independent course in the world, a course involving an
independent foreign policy and an economic system designed around the
needs of its own people, and not around the needs of multinational
corporations.ELI
STEPHENS CounterpunchReport
by Cuba to the UN General Assembly on the impact of the blockade,
2006 versionpdf
file NEWSummary
(CSC Web page)Article
by National CSC on the blockade (pdf)

OPINION:
TRIALS IN CUBA and Letter from Cuban intellectualsPuts the recent actions against
the so-called dissidents into perspective of the United States'
(also known
for external rendition, torture, carpet bombing, weapons of mass
destruction, finance of terrorism, etc, etc) 40
year aggression against Cuba.

Operation
NorthwoodsIn
his new exposé of the National Security Agency entitled Body of
Secrets, author James Bamford highlights a set of proposals on Cuba
by the Joint Chiefs of Staff codenamed OPERATION NORTHWOODS. This
document, titled Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in
Cuba; was provided by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
on March 13, 1962, as the key component of Northwoods. Written in
response to a request from the Chief of the Cuba Project, Col. Edward
Lansdale, the Top Secret memorandum describes U.S. plans to covertly
engineer various pretexts that would justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba.

Cuba has placed a set of flags outside the US interests
office in Havana. These commemorate some of the 3,000 Cubans
killed by US sponsored terrorism since 1959. They also
obscure the propaganda board set up by this US destabilisation
office.

Sign the petition
for Cuba'...At this very
moment, a strong campaign of destabilization against a Latin American
nation has beenunleashed. The
harassment against Cuba could serve as a pretext for an invasion.
Therefore, wecall upon citizens and
policy makers to uphold the universal principles ofnational sovereignity,
respect of territorial integrity and self-determination, essential to
just andpeaceful co-existence
among nations'.====>>>>>>
Sign now onlinesignatories
includeNoam Chomsky, Tariq Ali, Eduardo
Galeano.

Cuban 5
/ Miami 5 / Prisoners of the empire

On Monday 15 June, the US
Supreme Court refused to review the convictions of the Miami 5.'It's
a form of torture' In 1998, five Cuban
men were arrested for infiltrating groups in the US that were
plotting attacks on Cuba. They have not received a fair trial and two
have not seen their families since. Duncan Campbell in The Guardian 6
October 2008Cuba
5 - the
song

August
2005 The
five win their appeal, but remain unjustly imprisoned. CSC
linkToday August 9, 2005, the three magistrates mandated by
the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case of the
Five released their decision, unanimously ruling to reverse
their convictions and order a new trial. The Court of
Appeals recognized the right of the Five to be tried fairly in a
non coercive atmosphere and to have a fair trial. Full
court judgement.

And
then.....
On August 9th 2006, exactly one year after a three judge panel of the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia unanimously revoked
the sentences of the Miami Five, a majority of the full court of
twelve judges has ruled against the decision, reinstated the
sentences, denied a Five a new trial, and ordered the case back to
the original panel for consideration of the remaining nine issues.
Meanwhile the Five remain incarcerated in maximum-security prisons
characterised by violence and lockdowns while their families..
continue to experience delays and difficulties in obtaining visas for
visits. All too aware of the political nature of their
case they know that there are many hurdles yet to be cleared before
they receive ultimate justice and that the prosecution will buy as
much time as possible while the US administration continues its
vendetta against the Cuban people and tries to take advantage of
Fidel's incapacity. (Geoff Bottoms August 2006.) September
2006 - three weeks of Interntional Action for the 5.

Other Cuba Links and
News

Our
country is blockaded by the only superpower and almost blockaded by
Europe, but these together will not be able todefeat the Cuban
revolution, among other things because together they do not have and
will never have either the human capital or the moral values to do
what socialist Cubahas been able to do.

Health
in CubaFirst
world results on a third world budget Rory
Carroll Guardian
Wednesday September 12, 2007 On
the high standard of health and health care in Cuba. Shame
Carrol has since written some really scurrilous pieces about
Cuba.See
two responses that contextualise this artticle in terms of the
blockade (Rob
Miller) and the privatisation of the UK National Health Service
(London
Metropolitan University).Michael
Moore's new film Sickohas
some interesting comparisons of health service systems in the
USA Canada, UK, France and Cuba - Interview with
Democracy Now at this
link.New The
idea of the polyclinic.This model is
now being discussed in the context of the British National Health
Service. This briefing note from Manchester CSC explains
that it is effective in Cuba but as part of a comprehensive primary
care led public health service with an emphasis on prevention.Timor,
Cuba - and the making of a medical superpower Every year
Cuba, a Majority World country of only 10 million people, sends more
than 30,000 volunteer medical workers to 93 countries around the
world. Surgeon Katherine Edyvane recounts the little-told story from
first-hand experience. From New Internationalist magazine, Oct
2008

Link
to WHO map of the World showing number of inhabitants per medical
doctor. Cuba - 170:1, i.e 170
people per doctor. In the same area - Haití - 4.000:1,
Jamaica - 1.200:1, Guatemala - 1.100:1, México - 500:1
USA has 390 or 470:1, depending on the state. UK has
440:1 and Africa has between 30.000 and 50.000 residents
per doctor. This isn't the only index of health provision, but
the comparisons speak for themselves. NEW

Infant
mortality in Cuba second lowest in the AmericasCuba's
infant mortality rate (deaths in first year per thousand live births
for 2006 was 5.3. This is a ten fold reduction since the early
1960s and puts Cuba ahead of hte USA. Yet another reason why
Cuba's example matters.see
original article (in Spanish) See comparative
data for other countries over time (spreadhsheet)

Green
Cuba

World Wildlife Fund Living Planet report (2006) shows that Cuba is the only country developing without damaging the ecosystem While the rest of the world is busy destroying the ecosystem, a report published by the World Wildlife Fund claims that the only country in the world with "sustainable development" is Cuba.WWF includes in its report a graph which shows two features: the human development index (established by the United Nations) and the so-called "ecological footprint" which shows the per person energy and resources consumed in each country. Only Cuba has 'passed' in both arenas, which is enough to be designated a country that "meets the minimum sensitivity criteria". link for the full report: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report.pdfCuba ranks 50th on the HDI and outperforms its predicted ranking on the basis of GDP by 43 places! see http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/pdfs/report/HDR06-complete.pdfThe study's authors credit the high level of literacy, long life expectancy and low consumption of energy for this success. Things should improve further - 2006 was the Year of the Energy Revolution in Cuba.This independent finding contrasts with the lies about Cuba's environment in the report of the Commisison for Free Cuba (sic) produced by the non-Kyoto signing Petroleum oligarchy that runs the USA.

The
Human Rights QuestionGiven
the continuing assertion that Cuba is a Human Rights abuser, this new
section will collect information on the true situation there.
No state (and certainly not the UK nor USA) has a perfect record on
Human Rights - Cuba's record is actually better than most.
Moreover, Cuba defends the rights of all its citizens to health,
education and shelter, something that is unique in the Americas.
What compromises have been made in Cuba (and this is not to defend
them) must be understood in relation to the ongoing aggression
against the island's independence (see
above). Cuban
Submissions to the UN Commission on Human Rights July 2005123

Hurricanes
- the Cuban modelIn September 2004, Cuba endured
Ivan, the fifth-largest hurricane ever to hit the Caribbean,
with sustained winds of 124 miles per hour. Cuba evacuated
almost 2 million people--more than 15 percent of the total
population. One hundred thousand people were evacuated within the
first three hours. An incredible 78 percent of those evacuated
were welcomed into other people's homes. Children at
boarding schools were moved. Animals and birds were moved.
No one was killed. The UN declared this to be a model of
disaster preparation.

Cuba, a
country blockaded and isolated by the U.S. for 45 years has been
able to evacuate millions of people in an orderly fashion without
loss of life. Natural disasters do not have to be
catastrophes.From
International Action Centre:
http://www.iacenter.org/katrina-1.htm

Peter Hain MP -
Leader of the House of Commons “I
am absolutely opposed to military action being taken against Cuba
and also opposed to the continuing blockade of Cuba by the United
States. I visited Cuba two years ago and was very impressed with
the social advances that have been made despite all the pressure
from the US.” Read more - CSC report Cracks
in the special relationship: Britain, the United States and Cuba

Cuba
Travel Project."For
decades, U.S. policy has been to isolate the Cuba the rest of the
world. This embargo is detrimental not only to the Cuban people: it
is a deliberate end-run around First Amendment guarantees of freedom
to travel. CCR's Cuba Travel Project is the only institutional effort
to defend Americans [sic - they mean US citizens] who exercise
this basic constitutional right. "

NEW
TOURISM REGULATIONS:How
a code of ethics became an international story - and why your daily
newspaper got it all wrong. From
Canadian Network on Cuba.

Salud
InternationalTrade
Union based charity supporting Cuban health services through material
aid on an impressive scale (whole shiploads of ambulances and health
service equipment). Also developing a variety of new projects,
including collaboration with Cuba's internationalist support for
other third world countries' health services.

Cuban
PostersManchester
CSC member Steve Barker has put together a good collection on this
site about the Cuban tradition of using posters for political and
artistic expression. newly updated Steve sells original posters
exported with the proper permissions from Cuba.More
from Steve - Cuba and elsewhere

World
Social Forum The
World Social Forum, hosted by the Brazilian Workers' Party in Porto
Alegre. Interesting site with lots of
links on the struggle against global capitalism. Includes
library of readings.

Peoples'
Global ActionCanadian
site with information, campaigns, links on activism against the
various schemes of global capital and its proxies like the IMF, World
Bank, and World Trade Organisation, as well as the US government.

School
of the Americas WatchCampaign
to close down the School of the Americas. While
Cuba has an international school that provides free education in
medicine to students from poor countries, the USA has an
international school that teaches the military and police forces of
Latin America techniques of repression.

Morning
Star Newspaperthe
only socialist daily paper in Britain - news the other papers don't
cover: you can order it from your newsagent. Now why
doesn't the Today programme cover its content? Now a
subscription site - but you can read the editorial and the front
page.

This
site is hosted by the phone coop
- the co-operative internet service provider.

I've
defended this government because I believe it embodies the best of
our historical and national being. I'm not more openly critical
because I'm very clear about the manipulations that would
immediately appear. I don't like the idea of being seen as a
vicious seeker of stains. And although I have millimeters of
disagreement, I prefer to throw in my luck with the
Revolution that has committed itself to the dispossessed and made
a social contribution for which it is paying the price of
martyrdom.